Tag Archives: Hard Core Logo

I went to two TIFF films this year. One was a dystopian French (France French, not Canadian French) Soylent Green remake called Carre Blanc1. Okay, it wasn’t actually a Soylent Green remake, but they did produce food from people, or at least the film overtly implied that.

The stark film was humorous, and depressing. Sad and beautiful. It’s a film about living in a harsh world, finding happiness, while being a drone in the workings of the world. It’s some eye-candy.

Two days later, I’m still digesting the film, and could use a second viewing… that’s a good sign.

The other was a lot less deep, Hard Core Logo 2. For those of you who were living under a rock in the 1990s, Hard Core Logo is a classic fake-documentary film about an ’80s Vancouver punk band called Hard Core Logo who reunite for a charity gig. After the gig, the frontman, Joe Dick, disappointed with his life and lack of celebrity convinces his bandmates to do a tour of Western Canada. In the last minutes of Hard Core Logo, Dick kills himself.

I previously wrote about another sequel to Hard Core Logo, while that was originally intended as a sequel, it was rewritten for a girl-band, Trigger. This one is actually billed as Hard Core Logo 2, and this time is not actually about a band, but instead about Bruce McDonald, or at least the fictional Bruce McDonald who “directed” the original documentary. He witnessed the death of Dick, and finds a chance to redeem himself by filming a documentary about Die Mannequin as they record their third album.

The odd thing about the film is that the visuals don’t tell the story. The story is told through voiceover by Bruce McDonald. It disconnects the audience from what’s happening on screen, as if it’s some ethereal past, but is very similar to another one of McDonald’s films which may or may not have been seen by me called Claire’s Hat. I don’t think I’m allowed to mention this film, but the narrative structure of the two are near-identical. Seeing as Claire’s Hat was never released, I’m probably the only one thinking this.

Vic (Tracy Wright) and Kat (Molly Parker) grew up together. They started a band together. They lived their lives together. They abused themselves with drugs and narcotics together. They were Trigger together.

Trigger is playing/was playing a short engagement at Toronto’s brand-spankin’-new TIFF Bell Lightbox, and director Bruce McDonald was on-hand to introduce the film to the audience.

McDonald explained that the film started as a continuation of the story of Joe Dick and Billy Talent who were the two front-men of the fictional band Hard Core Logo. Unfortunately Hugh Dylan’s and Callum Keith Rennie’s schedules made it impossible. Rather than scrapping the screenplay, McDonald and writer Daniel Macivor rewrote the film about a new band, a riotgrrl band called Trigger.

Though it’s not actually titled “Hard Core Logo 2,” the film feels it, and it’s easy to see Vic as Joe Dick and Kat as Billy Talent. Rennie even makes a brief appearance as “Billy” and the audience is left to assume that this is Billy Talent, while Julian Richings makes a brief appearance as his Hard Core Logo role Bucky Haight.

How does it differ?

Hard Core Logo is about a band coming together for a sham-benefit while one member has a greater goal. Trigger is about a band coming together for a sham-benefit while one member has a greater goal.

Hard Core Logo is about men who are still children. Once the band broke up, they stopped evolving, and their lives were static. When they reunited, all the love and all the hatred were still at the forefront.

Trigger is about a band who grew up. They’ve become better women and grown, and learned from their mistakes. They’re still making mistakes, and are unsure of where to lead their lives, but they’re better people than they once were.

That’s the major difference. Trigger isn’t rehashing what was done before. Trigger is telling a different story within an existing universe.

One interesting thing about this film is how old everyone looks. Parker, Wright, Rennie, and McKellar all look like they’ve lived lives of abuse and are falling apart. It fits perfectly with the context of the film, and creates a realism, which was only disturbed by a guitar strap continuity error.

Definitely worth seeing. You don’t need to have seen it’s predecessor to enjoy the film, but it wouldn’t hurt. Most importantly, it’s a great farewell to a wonderful actor who the Toronto scene has recently lost, Tracy Wright.